Can I get instant confirmation when a hotel booking goes through the API, or do I have to wait to hear back from the supplier?

Yes, the hotel booking API gives you instant confirmation when a reservation is successful, so you know straight away whether the booking has been accepted or if there is a problem. When your customer completes their booking through your portal or when you submit a booking on their behalf, the API sends back a confirmation response right away with details like the booking reference, check in and check out dates, room details, and the total price. This means you can immediately tell your customer that their hotel is booked and send them their confirmation details without any delay.

That said, the speed and reliability of the confirmation depend on how the hotel supplier responds. Most major suppliers provide instant confirmations, but occasionally a supplier might take a few seconds longer or experience a temporary connection issue. In rare cases, a booking might appear to be confirmed through the API but then the supplier cancels it later due to a system error or availability issue on their end, though this is uncommon with established suppliers. You should always check the confirmation details carefully before you communicate them to your customer, just as you would with any booking system.

You can also set up your travel agency software to automatically send your customer an email or SMS with their booking confirmation as soon as the API confirms it, so they get the news instantly. This removes the step of you having to manually send confirmation details and gives your customers confidence that their booking is real. Make sure you test the confirmation process with your supplier before you start taking live bookings so you understand how quickly confirmations arrive and what information they contain.